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Wednesday, November 23, 2005

since I last posted. I guess I've been a little busy. I think the VCDA doll show was very successful. I know it was for me. I sold both of my listings. This doll:

which I made a couple of years ago from a pattern by Nicole Ellison of Raggedy Old Annies. I am actually a little sorry to have sold her. I don't get attached to very many of my dolls, but this one was awfully sweet. She's been sitting on top of my bookshelf for a while and now her spot looks so forlorn. She's on route to Georgia- I hope her new owner will love her as much as I did.

I also sold this doll:

which I really shouldn't have, as it turns out. I made this dollhouse sized EFA for Courtney for our swap. I contacted her a couple of times to let her know it was ready and get her address, but didn't hear from her. After two weeks, I let her know via email that I would be listing it if I didn't hear anything. Well, of course, the day after I listed it, I got an email from her! I guess her computer had been on the fritz and she wasn't getting any email. Man! I feel pretty cruddy, but she was quite gracious. Now I need to make her a new one! I felt a little pressure to list something for the doll show since I am one of the moderators. There was a third doll too, but I got slammed with a very bad head cold the day after the show started, so she is still unfinished. Poor little dear! I'm making Matilda Whipple With Her Crow by Annie Beez Folkart. She makes up beautifully. In fact, the first doll I ever sold on ebay was this one. Except I gave her a kitty to hold instead of a crow. Daughter Carmen designed the kitty for me. Here's a pic:

Isn't she a sweetie? I had always wanted to make a doll with striped legs! I was so pleased when Fran from Cloth Doll Supply bought her!

So that's the latest doll news. In other news, tomorrow is Turkey Day! Brother Jonathan, sil Deborah and Deb's dad will be joining us. I'm really looking forward to it, but I sure have my work cut out for me today! Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!

Tuesday, November 15, 2005

Well, today is the official start of the doll show on VCDA, our new seller's group on ebay. So far there isn't a whole lot to see, but I bet we'll have a page full by the end of the day. Go take a look! Just click on the banner:

I've listed one doll so far, but another is waiting in the wings and another is waiting to be finished before I can list her. After all, she can't be put up for sale without her undies! I'm thinking about listing Melissa. I did her in 2003 for a challenge called "Secret Keeper of Summer". I thought she was really clever! I listed her once before and she didn't sell, but perhaps with the strength of an event, she might go. I think I need to give her a good dusting first! Yikes!

Monday, November 14, 2005

I never shared any photos of what I made for backtack! I was so stressed about getting it done! I did end up sending it a little late because I could not find a big enough box! My recipient was the very talented knitting Sara from KnitWerk. She expressed an interest in quilting and I was fortunate enough to score a kit at JoAnn's on sale that including the cutting mat, the grid ruler and the rotary cutter for $19.99! How incredible is that! Unfortunately it was too big for the bag I had already made, but I think that's okay. I also got the book, The Modern Quilt Workshop which had a lot of good reviews on Amazon.

Sara is very different from me in her tastes! Where I like warm colors and strong contrasts, she likes cool colors all along one curve of the wheel. Amazingly, I had the perfect fabrics in my stash! When I worked at Hancock's I would pick up bolt ends for a song and these were pretty small pieces! The embellishment on the bag was a kit to make a belt that came from JoAnn's. The pincushion is a wrist pincushion (my favorite kind!) that Sara says she is enjoying, so that makes me happy! The big bag is lined with the fabric from a felted pink sweater. The bookmark was fun- two pieces of fabric fused together and trimmed with pinking sheers. On the top layer I embroidered (very badly!) the words "sew good" in a matching thread. What else? Oh yeah, quilters pins, a cool thimble, a pack of betweens, a little lined zipper pouch and a tiny pouch for wee scissors with scissors included. I also threw in a tiny box of purple glass beads tied up with an orange ribbon. I didn't send candy because her last post before I mailed was one about candy overload!

It was really fun to work outside of my box, as the saying goes. I was really happy with the results and I hope Sara is enjoying them as much as I am enjoying my goodies from Sarah of Totally Crunchy! All of the completed projects are over at flickr-go enjoy!

Sunday, November 13, 2005

Oh man! I had a great Goodwill shopping trip! The first thing I found was this awesome purse:I thought it was pretty cute and I looked up the label online. It was Margaret Smith, Gardiner, Maine. Check out this link! Besides that, I found two cute dresses, one chocolate brown one that will be cute with my boots, and a sage green linen shirtdress from Nordstrom's that might need a little reworking. A beige pair of suede pumps with kitten heels, a matching belt that actually fits my girth!, a dark brown pair of tootsie-mootsie loafers that looked like they had never been worn, four darling little salad bowls in my Wexford pattern AND perfect, mint condition Wexford water pitcher! Can we say Amen? All weekend I've been wanting to go and I pretty much talked myself out of it when Earl convinced me to take some boxes of junk from cleaning out the shed. Wow, I am so glad I went!

Thursday, November 10, 2005

A little old fashioned, and a little modern. A little traditional, and a little bit punk rock.A unique woman like you needs a city that offers everything.No wonder you and London will get along so well.

I mentioned a while back that some of us at VCD were starting a new group. Well, I have been very remiss in not sharing with you all. VCDA is up and running at ebay! Next week we will be having a doll show! We are all putting in a big effort to have some dolls to list on the 15th. This is going to be a great opportunity to see the range of dolls that Vintage Cloth Doll Artists make! Here is the banner:

It should take you to the listing page for our group. If not, you can type vcda into the ebay search bar and get there just fine! I hope you will all come and take a look next week. I have some amazingly talented friends!

Saturday, November 05, 2005

How do you like this? I must admit, he's had me mesmerized all morning and most of this afternoon! I needle sculpted his face last night and got up early this morning to paint him. I'm really, really in love with him. So much so that all I can do is stare at him in amazement that my mortal hands created him! There's only one problem. How can I cover up that beautiful smile with a beard? You can see that I have it there all ready to go, but when I slide it up into position he looks like an imposter! Here, I'll show you:Oh. Well. Never mind! He looks great! Maybe he just wanted me to show you his pretty face before growing his beard! Okay, I'm happy now! Hugs to all from the place where no work gets done and we sit in our pajamas all day and make dolls!

Thursday, November 03, 2005

Hotbreath, as he put it! Fever and a sore throat is the way we mommies phrase it! It's the perfect opportunity to share some more of my birthday gifts.

Isn't this gorgeous! My dear friend Sandra made this for me! I love the little gold paisleys-each one is engraved with a pretty flower. Would you believe that she is brand new to beading? She has always had an amazing eye for detail and this is so amazing! I love it, San!

How cool is this? This came from Earl and the kids. I am a Scrabble freak and this is the super-de-duper deluxe version with a lazy susan base and barriers between the squares so the letters don't slide around. Fabulous!

This pretty tile came from my sister-in-law, Deborah, and my brother, Jonathan. Deb painted this! She's a quilter, knitter and mosaic artist too! Oh, and a real chef! Can you see why my brother loves her so much? She made dinner for us Sunday too.

Oh, yeah, there's one other new thing, although it's not technically a birthday gift:

Meet Yoda! My brother found her at a job site in Fresno, all alone, tiny, starving and covered with fleas. Her brought her home, took her the the vet for a clean bill of health and proceeded to make my children fall in love with her! She came home with us Sunday night and has stolen our hearts. Buddy, the dog, and Tiny, Frances, and Bob, the cats, would have not have such nice things to say about her! They'll adjust! She is so stripey and spotted and is such a little house tiger! When she is content and purring, she makes these little chirpy noises. Yup, she's a keeper!

So, a good birthday. I just can't believe October is over. It went by in a flash. Now that all of my swaps are done, I would like to slow down a bit and enjoy my home and work on my Santa. It's time to snuggle in.

So, as if my backtack goodies were not enough, I got a fabulous birthday package from friend, Cindy Owens! She is such a sweetie-pie! First, there was this sassy happy birthday frog who has landed on my baker's rack.

Then there were the cards, a birthday and a halloween one too that came with a wee little witch broom made my Cindy! How cute! A couple of cute fabrics and two fabulous books! I devoured The Story of Holly and Ivy right away, such a beautiful story! And the second one is new to me. It's call The Mennyms and it looks really good! Cindy and I both love children's lit so this is a fun new find! Thank you, Cindy! I don't deserve all this goodness, but I love it!

Tuesday, November 01, 2005

Yesterday, I got home from work to find the most awesome package! It was my backtack kit! I knew what it was, but couldn't open it right away because, hello!, it was Halloween and my three children were running around like chickens with their heads cut off! I got everyone costumed and out the door, but then there were these other kids that kept ringing my doorbell and demanding candy! So there it sat, tantalizingly. Finally, after all the brou-haha, Carmen joined me and we sat down and unwrapped this fabulous treasure from...Totally Crunchy! Here are the pics:

This is the long view. I tried to show everything, but I just couldn't! There was too much! Do you see how the bag incorporated some of my favorite colors? The lime and the red? The main body of the bag is this terrific asian patchwork fabric with beautiful birds and flowers on it. I just love it! She lined it with the green stripe that is on the bottom of the bag as well as including a great zipper pouch in the same green stripe. Fabulous!

See the vintage goodness! See the apron pattern! The binding tape, buttons! Yum!

Look at this! On the right is a gorgeous light switch cover that she decoupaged with tons of pretty images! Love it so much! The card in the center is another thing she made by hand. Isn't it beautiful? She even thought to write her little note on a seperate piece of paper so I could reuse the card! Forget it! This is going in the keepsake box! See the beautiful notepad and pen? I'm going to keep them here at my sewing machine so I can make notes as needed. I wish I could put a "shield of invisibility" around them so my children won't see them!

Okay, do you see this magazine? Do I even need to say anything? OMG!!!!!!!!!!!!! And we still haven't gotten to what the backtack is about! Totally Crunchy has gotten me everything I need to learn how to tat! Look!

Isn't this amazing? This is the coolest stuff! Threads, shuttles, needles, and a book. You know, I'm working on a Santa who will be wearing a crazy quilt coat. I am totally motivated to learn some tatting so I can add it to the coat! Awesome! (Believe me, I'll be sharing my efforts here as I progress!) Do you see the strawberry emery? Isn't it great? I think she made that too! I hung it from my eiffel tower lamp-it looks so cute! In the edible department there were two boxes of yummy Krimpet Kakes and a Ghiradelli chocolate bar that I've been eating while writing this! And a handful of yummy Werther's!

I loved everything so much that I've even allowed a photo of me with the bag! It is perfect! Perfect colors, perfect size! It is here at work with me holding all my stuff! Dear backtack friend, you have made me so happy! You've only disappointed me in one way---you blew the budget!!! Girl! You're gonna make me look bad when my recipient gets her bag! But, seriously, thank you, thank you, thank you! I am so honored to meet you and to be treated so well! You have really made my day today. Even though I opened it last night, it is today that I really needed a nice thing from a friend, so blogging this makes it new all over again! Thank you!